The Montreal Canadiens have sold out Bell Centre for 422 consecutive games.

All 383 regular-season games and 39 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs dating to Jan. 8, 2004 were officially listed as a sellout, a streak that is one month short of a decade in length.

The streak was snapped Tuesday.

The official attendance for the Canadiens' 3-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks was listed as 21,286, one short of capacity, to account for the empty aisle seat in Row EE in Section 102, three rows behind the Montreal bench.

The seat had been occupied for years by the late Canadiens legend Jean Beliveau, and though he wasn't there to fill it Tuesday, the seat was in many ways the star of a night-long tribute to the Hall of Fame center and pre-eminent hockey ambassador who touched so many during his career and after.

On this day, as it will be on Monday, too, the Bell Centre is a silent, dignified place of worship, the banners of its greatest players and its 24 championship teams suspended in dim light from the rafters overhead as a kind of CH-crested stained glass.

Jean Béliveau, a legend of La Sainte-Flannelle, never took a National Hockey League shift in the Bell Centre. His 1,287 regular-season and playoff games between 1950-71 were skated a few blocks to the northwest at the Montreal Forum, and in the buildings of 13 opponents.

But now this great centreman, the figure who epitomized uncommon excellence and a gentlemanly grace and dignity on and off the ice through his more than six decades in Montreal, lies here in state.

His flower-draped casket is in the south end, between the blue line and the faceoff circles of the zone the Canadiens defend for two periods each game.

The summation of an athlete’s career, especially those greatest at their sport, always comes down to numbers. So inevitably last week that was the case with Jean Beliveau, the sublime, larger-than-life Montreal Canadiens center, his name etched into the Stanley Cup 17 times, though his unremitting dignity, elegance, and grace truly immeasurable, unquantifiable.

Beliveau’s numbers, including the “4” he wore on the back of his Habs sweater for 18 full seasons, his 10-year captaincy, his bountiful goals and assists, will be easy to summon. They have long been engraved in silver, noted in NHL record books, inscribed on his plaque at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

Those numbers are the hard facts of what he was, while his dignity, elegance, and grace, the very being of who Joseph Jean Arthur Beliveau was, are left but to the memory of those who saw him play, knew him in his life off the ice, absent his skates, his stick, or iconic CH sweater.

Every time he was introduced or described, it was with the same word. It’s not something that can be aspired to to be achieved. It is what a good life sometimes, but rarely, bestows. Jean Béliveau had class.

He was my first roommate with the Canadiens. I was his last. He was 39; I was 23. I had been called up only a few weeks before, and on the verge of our Stanley Cup opening round series against the defending champion, Boston Bruins, with Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito, Jean had been told something I didn’t know. I would be the team’s starting goalie.

A voracious reader of historical biographies, a dedicated viewer of classic movies, a devotee of opera and great tenors … this gentleman would be just as happy to discuss with you world events and film stars and a soaring, emotional vibrato as he would be to talk about hockey, the game that largely if very incompletely defined his life.

The passing Tuesday night of Jean Béliveau was a crowbar in the chest of Montreal, an indelicate surgical extraction of the heart of this town.

Today, Montreal is a city at half-staff. We are all wearing a black arm band.

Dave Stubbs of the Montreal Gazette on Jean Beliveau. Read more on Beliveau, written from the heart..

note- original post was 8:04am 12/3/14, bringing to top of page for all to see.

I will be adding to this post throughout the day... 10:15am, post has been updated numerous times, below the jump... and even more added.. another update at 2:06pm... now 2:23pm... as of 4:35pm, 13 updated to this post...

MONTREAL (December 3, 2014) – In accordance with the wishes of the Béliveau family, the Montreal Canadiens Hockey Club today announced the details of events in the days leading up to Mr. Béliveau’s funeral.

The team’s management stresses that, in keeping with the family’s wishes, all activities will reflect the image of the late hockey legend: they will be simple and accessible to the public. Out of respect for the public, which has supported Jean Béliveau over the years, the Béliveau family announced that they had agreed to share their grief with the community. They hope, however, that the media and the public will continue to respect their privacy during this painful time.

Béliveau leaves his wife and soulmate of 61 years, Élise; the couple’s daughter, Hélène; and granddaughters Mylène and Magalie.

They are joined in mourning by the hockey universe and countless people around the world whose lives have been indelibly touched and profoundly enriched by the man who affectionately was nicknamed Gros Bill.

Béliveau had been in delicate health in recent months, having fought pneumonia from August into September not long after having fractured a hip in a fall at home.

He had suffered strokes in 2010 and 2012, a decade after having waged a difficult battle with cancer in 2000.

“I knocked on the door,” Béliveau philosophically said two years ago, in conversation while recovering at home from his second stroke. “But it seems they weren’t ready for me.”

The richly decorated Hall of Famer compiled athletic achievements that were the gold standard, matched only by his elegance and his lifelong charity and humanitarian work off the ice.

Beliveau’s dazzling statistics installed him in the hockey shrine in 1972 alongside his great friend and rival Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings, with the customary three-year post-retirement period to induct players being waived.

NEW YORK (Dec. 3, 2014) – National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman today released the following statement regarding the passing of the legendary Jean Béliveau:

“No record book can capture, no image can depict, no statue can convey the grandeur of the remarkable Jean Béliveau, whose elegance and skill on the ice earned the admiration of the hockey world while his humility and humanity away from the rink earned the love of fans everywhere.

“Mr. Béliveau was a formidable presence and his departure leaves an immeasurable void. As we grieve that he has left us, we cherish what he gave us: A sport elevated forever by his character, his dignity and his class.

“For all the accomplishments he achieved and all the accolades he received, Jean Béliveau was always the epitome of the boy whose only dream was to play for the Montreal Canadiens. Hockey is better because that dream was realized. The National Hockey League sends heartfelt condolences to Mr. Béliveau’s wife, Élise, and Mr. Béliveau’s family, to his countless friends around the hockey world, and to his beloved Canadiens, who he always represented with such distinction and grace.”

Canadiens icon Jean Béliveau is recovering at home from a recent bout of pneumonia.

Élise Béliveau, the 83-year-old Hall of Famer’s wife of 61 years, was surprised in recent days to be informed by a friend of at least one French-language Internet report last week stating Béliveau was in critical condition.

A post on Twitter two days earlier had described Béliveau’s dramatic weight loss in graphic detail, adding he was “very ill.”

“I just thought: ‘What the heck is that?’ ” Élise Béliveau said Sunday. “Jean has been sick. He’s had pneumonia, he’s recuperating from it, he has his good days and his bad days and that’s it.”

Typical of the Internet, one report sourcing an unnamed person “close to the Béliveau family” quickly gathered steam. Rumours and further unsubstantiated reports soon suggested Béliveau was in his final moments and that his wife, their daughter, Hélène, and granddaughters Mylène and Magalie were at his bedside.

Élise Béliveau said Sunday while her husband rests and continues to recuperate, receiving a number of close friends to visit, the family is going about its normal routine.

“You can have no idea how moved I am by the thoughts and wishes and prayers of so many people,” Béliveau said during my hour-long visit with him on Wednesday, Élise tight by his side as she’s been for their nearly 59 years of marriage.

“It’s been tremendous.”

He’s lost some weight during his latest challenge, one of too many tests this good man has had to stare down since he battled a cancerous tumour in his neck a dozen years ago. Béliveau is down to 190 pounds, under 200 for the first time in as long as he can remember.

But still, he looks terrific, and you’re not merely saying that when you tell him so. He smiles and replies: “I might not feel as good as I look, but I know this isn’t easy.”

His baritone is still rich and his familiar accent fairly booms in welcome from his chair by the window as I enter the room. His grip? It’s as strong as ever.

Big Jean admits he’s fatigued at this noon-hour as he combs his thick white hair with uniquely curved fingers. Already this day, he’s done considerable walking, been lovingly poked and prodded by hospital staff and enjoyed the visit of Yvan and Evelyn Cournoyer.

Canadiens legend Jean Béliveau continues to make encouraging progress at Montreal General Hospital following a stroke he suffered at home last Monday evening.

Élise Béliveau, the wife of the 80-year-old Hall of Famer, said Monday morning that “we’re keeping our fingers crossed” as doctors express happiness with the recovery of the former Canadiens captain.

“He slept like a log all day (Sunday),” said Élise Béliveau, whose husband is expected to begin speech and physical therapy as early as Monday. “He’s getting some of the rest he didn’t get the past week.”

She added that Canadiens chief surgeon David Mulder was very pleased with Béliveau’s condition during a weekend visit.

But it was Béliveau’s second three-goal performance, on his first of three career four-goal nights, that might have been his most important. He scored three times on Boston Bruins goaler Terry Sawchuk in a span of 44 seconds on Nov. 5, 1955, all during the same Montreal power play.

It remains the second-fastest hat trick scored in NHL history, though more than double the 21 seconds it took Chicago’s Bill Mosienko on March 23, 1952 against the New York Rangers.

The NHL would attempt to disable the Canadiens’ fearsome power play at the end of the 1955-56 season. Imagine – Doug Harvey and Geoffrion on the points, Béliveau, Richard and Bert Olmstead scoring almost at will up front.

So the league proposed a rule for the 1956-57 season that would release a minor-penalized player from the box should a goal be scored by the team with the man advantage. It passed with a 5-1 vote in the six-club NHL; only the Canadiens opposed it.

Hall of Famer and longtime Montreal Canadiens team ambassador Jean Beliveau is scheduled to undergo a preventive surgical procedure next week to repair abdominal aneurysms. The team said the procedure, known as endovascular surgery, will be performed using the most recent techniques, which are minimally invasive.

Beliveau, whose general state of health is very good, according to the team, will need a few months to fully recover from the surgical intervention.

“We are pleased that Mr. Beliveau is under the good care of head team physician David Mulder. On behalf of all of our fans, players and the entire Montreal Canadiens family, I would like to wish Mr. Beliveau a prompt and complete recovery,” owner and CEO Geoff Molson said in a statement.

Through more connections, John Correia also was able to book a table at a private restaurant known as 9-4-10, named in honour of three of the all-time great Canadiens - Maurice (The Rocket) Richard, Beliveau, and Guy Lafleur.

Only season-ticket holders, members and invited guests are permitted inside. John Correia’s friend, Louis Nicoletti, a long-time season-ticket holder, was able to finangle a table for them prior to the game.

We’re talking exclusive company here….

And over to Beliveau’s table they went.

“When I stood at the table, there was a feeling that you were in the company of royalty. There was an aura. I could sense his charisma, and his big, soft, beautiful smile,” McCarron said. “As soon as he gave me that, I moved right in. I’m like a five-year-old at this point.

“I said, ‘Mr. Beliveau, I’ve been a fan of yours for 55 years. Every Saturday night in my household it was B B B - beans, bass and Beliveau. I laid on the floor of the TV room and waited for you to come on TV.”

“I can feel the desire in the Canadiens players. Everyone is working his hardest and the team is performing very well, especially considering all the injuries they have faced.

“I don’t think Pittsburgh wanted a seventh game. I played quite a few and the stress is something very special. It’s not handled the same by each player and I believe the Canadiens have put the pressure back on the Penguins.

As long as anyone can remember, even before he was to become everything that was good about this Montreal Canadiens franchise, Jean Beliveau has been special.

Was there ever a player blessed with more grace on and off the ice? He was a quiet leader who led by example. He walked and skated tall—and always will be remembered that way. We rejoiced in his accomplishments and were left limp with grief when he was struck with adversity—on and off the ice.

The photograph from a family album shows Jean Béliveau slipping an engagement ring onto the finger of Élise Couture. It is Christmastime 1952 in Quebec City, a tinselled tree behind them.

This June 27, the couple will celebrate their 55th wedding anniversary. And it is hardly a measure of their marriage that, on this Valentine’s Day, neither recalls the details of Béliveau’s proposal to the woman who took his heart then and keeps it to this day.

“I’ve seen Price facing 35 to 40, sometimes more shots per game. I’ve said all along, ‘The poor kid, if he’s going to get that many, there are going to be nights when he won’t stop them all.”

No matter the Canadiens’ current skid, with five straight home losses heading into tonight’s game against Tampa Bay, Béliveau jokes that he hasn’t yet had to scalp his tickets; he still finds eternally grateful friends and guests to join he and his wife, Élise, in their four seats.

If asked, he’ll remark on the speed of the Canadiens, wondering whether it’s an optical illusion, and he’ll comment on the dart board that seemingly produces Carbonneau’s lines.